SAN FRANCISCO — Retailers including H&M, The North Face, American Eagle Outfitters and Levi Strauss have joined local leaders in an effort to reduce clothing waste.

Officials from the City and County of San Francisco on Wednesday launched the Zero Waste Textile Initiative at Westfield San Francisco Center, part of the city’s larger initiative to achieve zero waste by 2020 by recycling or composing the discards we now put in the trash. The textile program will add clothing donation drop-off locations throughout San Francisco to recycle worn out items that were previously considered trash. Residents are encouraged to bring unwanted clothes, linens and shoes to participating locations — Forever 21, H&M and Goodwill are among the options — so they can be used by others. The city is also offering textile recycle bins for businesses and apartment buildings.

San Francisco annually sends more than 39 million pounds of textiles to the landfill, making it one of the top three materials that end up in the trash. Get updates on the textile program at www.sfenvironment.org/zero-waste-textile-initiative or by following #SFSaveFashion on Twitter.

Contact Heather Somerville at 510-208-6413. Follow her at Twitter.com/heathersomervil.

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